Centralized oiling system



Dec. 9, 1952 E- w. DAVIS 2,620,896

CENTRALIZED OILING SYSTEM Filed Oct. 20. 1949 Hill IN V EN TOR.

w/A. 6M;

Patented Dec. 9, 1952 GENERALIZED OILING SYSTEM ErnestW. Davis, OakPark;Ill., assignor to Gits Bros; Mfg.- Got, Chicago, 111., acrpora-tion-- of .Illinois Application 0ctohen20, 1949, SerialNo..122,543.

' 4 Claims. 1 My invention relates to centralized oiling systems, andits general object istoprovide an emcient oiling system that can bemanufactured at low cost. A more specific objectis to-devise acentralized oiling system having an-oil line containing measuringvalves, and provided with-a centralized pumping unit having an improvedtiming mechanism for alternately applying a predetermined pressure tothe oil line and then releasingsaid press-ureat predetermined timeintervals.

An embodiment ofmy invention is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing,in which the cen-' tral pumping'unit 2 is shown in sectional elevation.The oil reservoir 4, is-provided with a cover 6-. The piston- 8- of thepumpdreciprocates vertically within the cylinder portion lfl when thecam i2 isrotated by theelectric motor l4v The cam I 2 moves the piston 8downwardly by engagement with the cam wiperi6, and the spring-1 8: movesthe piston 8 upwardly by engagement with the collar 20 When the piston-8occupies its highest position, it uncovers the port 22; so that oil.from: the reservoir 4 may flow into the cylinder Hl. Then when thepiston 8 is moved downwardly, it first coversthe port 22', and. th'en'forc'es oil from thecylinder I'll, pastthe check; valve '24,. throughthe discharge port 26 and into the oil line 28. The oil line 2B delivers oil under: pressure to: a plurality of measuring valves 30132, and.34, for supplying measured quantitiesof' oil to the bearings 36,. 3-8,and 40, respectively, of the machine tobe" lubricated. Thesemeasuringvalves are" of a type that passes a measured quantity of oil at eachapplication of oil; pressure in the oil line, succeeding a release of;the pressure therein. Measuring: valves of this character-are wellkncwnto those skilled in the lubricating art, and therefore'furtherdescription seems unnecessary.

The riser tube 42 connects with the discharge port 26, and is providedat its upper end with a closefitting plunger 44, whichiis verticallymovable between its uppermost position, as shownby full lines, and itslowermost position,. as shown by dotted lines. The plunger 44, whileoccupying its lowest position, closes the opening-=46, thereby:providing a lay-pass valve, which forms an important, element in theinvention,- and which is identified in general by the numeral 48. Theupper end of the plunger 44 is provided with a head 47, which limitsdownward movement of the plunger 44 by engagement with the upper end ofthe riser tube 42. When the by-pass valve 48 is open, it allows oil toflow from the riser tube 42, through the by-pass conduit 50, and

into the tilting, bucket 52'. The tilting; bucket 52 is pivoted onthehorizontal shaftx54, which is supported by the reservoir 4".

The tilting bucket 52 is free to. oscillate betweenthe upper position,as shown by full lines, and the lower position, as shown by dottedlines, and is so constructed and arranged that it will remain in theupper position when it is empty,-

arid will be moved by gravity to the lower position when a sufiicientquantity of oil flows therein from the by-pass conduit50'. It will beobserved that when the tilting' bucket 52' moves from the upper.position to the lower position, the connecting structure 56- then urgesthe plunger 44 downwardly" so as to close thebypass valve 48. It willalso be observed that-when the tilting bucket 52' occupies its lowerposition, sufilcient pressure in the riser tube 42"will-cause theplunger 44 to move upwardly, thereby restoringthe tilting bucket 52 toits upper position. By means of this co-acti'on, the tilting bucket 52actuates the by-pass valve 48, and the 'bypass valve48' actuates thetilting bucket 52. The reciprocal effect thus attained is utilizedwithparticular advantage in carrying out the objects of the invention,as'will appear hereinafter".

Operation 'The electric motor 14 is shunted across the motorthatoperates the machine to be lubricated, so? that the motor |4.wil1'drive the pump 9-wh'eneverthe machine is running. and at no other time.Operation of: the pump! builds up oil pressure in the oil'line 28,. andthereby causes eachof'the measuring. valves 30', 32, and 34',t0discharge a measured quantity of oil. During this operation of themeasuring. valves, the tilting bucket 52-will occupy its lower;position, as shown-by the dotted lines, and the by-pass valve 48. will:be held closed. Whenthe tilting bucket 52' is moved to its lowerposition, the oil com tained; therein will flow out by gravity;and-:will return to, the oil in the reservoir 4 to be pumpe over again.

After all the measuring valves have operated, the continuedoperation ofthe pump it willincrease the oil pressure in the riser tube 42 until itis sufiicientto move the plunger 44 upwardly, thereby-returning thetiltingbucket 52' to its upperposition; and thereby opening the by-passvalve 48. This releases the pressure in the oil line 28, so that themeasuring valves 30, 32, and 34 may restore to normal loading positionin the manner well known to those skilled in the art. Opening of theby-pass valve 48 also allows oil discharged by the pump 9 to flowthrough the bypass conduit 50 and discharge into the tilting bucket 52.After suificient oil has discharged into the tilting bucket 52, thecenter of gravity of the bucket (including the oil therein) will beshifted to a position at the right of the shaft 54, whereupon thetilting bucket 52 will swing down to its lower position, and the by-passvalve 48 will be closed by this action, thereby completing the cycle ofoperation.

In order to secure uniform and satisfactory operation, it is desirablethat the oil level in the reservoir 4 shall be no higher than thelowermost portion of the tilting bucket 52 while in its lower position.In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the capacity of thetilting bucket 52 is substantially greater than the combined dischargecapacities of all the measuring valves in the oil line 28. It is to beunderstood that in the particular embodiment of this invention, asherein shown and described, certain departures from commercial designhave been purposely employed in order to make the drawings moreunderstandable. Many modifications and improvements in this constructioncould be made by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a centralized oiling system having an oil reservoir for supplyingoil to a power-driven pump arranged to discharge said oil under pressureinto an oil line to which is connected a plurality of measuring valves;a by-pass valve for by-passing oil from said oil line, said bypass valvebeing movable to an open position and a closed position, and saidby-pass valve including a cylinder portion connected with said oil line,and a plunger portion exposed to said oil pressure and reciprocable insaid cylinder portion, and said by-pass valve having a port therein, andsaid plunger portion bein movable to positions that open and close saidport; and an unbalanced tilting bucket oscillatable about asubstantially horizontal axis to an upper position and a lower position,said tilting bucket being shaped to retain a substantial quantity of oilwhile occupying said upper position and to discharge said oil when movedto said lower position; and a by-pass conduit for conducting saidby-passed oil from said by-pass valve to said tilting bucket, saidtilting bucket being moved to said lower position by the force ofgravity acting on the combined mass of said tilting bucket and saidby-passed oil contained therein, and said tilting bucket beingoperatively connected with said plunger portion, and said plungerportion being moved to a position covering said port when said tiltingbucket is moved to said lower position, and said plunger being moved toa position that uncovers said port when the oil pressure in said oilline reaches a predetermined value, and said tilting bucket bein movedto said upper position by said uncovering movement of said plunger.

2. In a centralized oiling system having an oil reservoir for Supplyingoil to a power-driven pump arranged to discharge said oil under pressureinto an oil line to which is connected a plurality of measuring valves;a pressure-opened by-pass valve connected with said oil line forreleasing the oil pressure therein when said pressure reaches apredetermined value; oil actuated timing mechanism receiving oildischarged through said by-pass valve, said timing mechanism beingmovable from a first position to a second position and movable from saidsecond position back to said first position, and said timing mechanismbeing moved from said first position to said second position in responseto the delivery thereto of a predetermined amount of oil from saidby-pass valve; and connecting structure between said by-pass valve andsaid timing mechanism, said connecting structure transmitting motionfrom said by-pass valve to said timing mechanism in a direction to movesaid timing mechanism to said first postion when said by-pass valve isopened, and said connecting structure transmitting motion from saidtiming mechanism to said by-pass valve in a direction that closes saidby-pass valve when said timing mechanism is moved to said secondposition.

3. In a centralized oiling system having an oil reservoir for supplyingoil to a power-driven pump arranged to discharge said oil under pressureinto an oil line to which is connected a plurality of measuring valves;a pressure-opened by-pass valve connected with said oil line andresponsive to the oil pressure therein for releasing oil from said oilline when the pressure therein reaches a predetermined value; andgravity-actuated timing mechanism receiving oil discharged through saidby-pass valve and responsive to the accumulation of a predeterminedweight of said received oil for closing said bypass valve.

4. In a centralized oiling system having an oil reservoir for supplyingoil to a power-driven 3 pump arranged to discharge said oil underpressure into an oil line to which is connected a plurality of measuringvalves; a pressure-opened by-pass valve connected with said oil line andresponsive to a predetermined pressure therein for releasing oil fromsaid oil line; gravityactuated timing mechanism receiving oil dischargedthrough said by-pass valve and responsive to the accumulation of apredetermined weight of said received oil for closing said bypass valve;and leverage structure between said by-pass valve and said timingmechanism for transmitting motion from said timing mechanism to saidby-pass valve and for transmitting motion from said by-pass valve tosaid timing mechanism, said leverage structure providing a lever of thesecond class during first motion transmission, and said leveragestructure pro viding a lever of the third class during said secondtransmission.

ERNEST W. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,959,060 Norelius May 15, 19342,219,681 Davis Oct. 29, 1940

